Hi guys,,
i bought my Civic 06 LXi a week ago,
all check up was OK, engine fine, oil changed, computer Ok,,everything looked OK.

i started gauging its tank and consumption,, i estimated that every bar stands for 2 liters (less than half Gal.)
the shock was tht the car drove less than 7.5km/l mixed (town/highway) and in town alone, it was about 6.8km /l!!! i used premium gas Unleaded Octane 95
Whats wrong with that?
What should i check over? spark plugs? tune engine again?
tires?
engine seems not suffering as the tachometer give a comfortable 1700rpm on flat road @75km/h.
Any advices??
im really frustrated from that disappointing ECNOMY i-VTEC engine!!
Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tareq75 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> i estimated that every bar stands for 2 liters (less than half Gal.) </TD></TR></TABLE>

That is incorrect. Gauging gas consumption by the bars is not the way to get your mpg.

Fill it all the way up with regular (higher octane is not needed).
Reset your trip odometer to zero.
Drive until your fuel light comes on (or near coming on, 2-3 bars remaining).
Fill your tank all the way up again.
Take the number on the trip odometer and divide it by how many gallons or liters that was required to fill your car back up the second time.

 

Thanks for ur reply
Well, i did all of that,, thats how i calculated how much each bar equals in liters)
the car tank took about 42 liters
the tank had 20 bars..
anyway, i filled it up, drove till it was almost out, then refueled it...40 liters made a trip of 299 km!
im asking abt the low milage, and high consumption...
any clues?
Thanks

 

I noticed similar efficiency on my 06 Civic LX (automatic) when it was new and tested a few time with 94 octane gas. It was getting roughly 483km (300 miles) on 53L (14 gal) of gas. Which translated to less than 22 mpg with a 50/50 mix of highway/city driving.

As the car got older and was driven more, the fuel efficiency increased for some reason. And now with 50k km driven, I get up to 600km (373 miles) on 53L (14 gal), that’s almost 27 mpg with the same combination of highway/city driving. Aside from the 101 different things people can find on Google on increasing fuel efficiency, I noticed the following factors helped increase efficiency the most on my civic.

1. Used only regular 87 Octane gas. Higher octane gas burned more fuel.
2. Kept tires inflated to 42psi, which I know is higher than stated on door jams. However, under inflated tires decreased efficiency, and as long as the pressure is kept below the tires max 44 psi rating, I don’t see a problem here.
3. Removed all junk in my trunk. Any unnecessary weight, anywhere in the car, required more fuel.
4. Drove conservatively, by accelerating slowly, and keeping rpm’s below 2.5k.

I also noticed if I ever poured a bottle of fuel-injector cleaner in the gas tank, the fuel efficiency dropped significantly for the next several fill ups.

With that said, some questions for you:

1. What Octane gas are you using?
2. What’s your tire pressure?
3. What’s the mileage on your car?
4. Do you have any extra weight in your car?
5. Are you an aggressive driver?
6. Have you used any gas additives lately?

 

Thanx Pal,, ur comment is right to the point,, i noticed tht as well,,, the fuel add-ons really made things worse on my older CRV!!
well, my Civic is about 40.000 km, mostly drove in flat desert areas, but now im in Amman JORDAN (very similar to San Fransisco, with some roads even steeper!!) we have some CITY streets with 25% inclination for no less than 500m!!!
Anyway, i used Unleaded Octane 95
tire pressure (didnt chk lately) but yes tthey are a bit under infl.)
trunk is 100% empty but from spare tire and jack, and a fire extinguisher.
im not aggressive, but i like fast Acceleration
i will check these factors and get back with feedbacks

 

Are you guys driving constantly with a/c or heater blasted? Do you drive for 10 min and then shut ur car off? or do you drive for 30 min before turn car off?

 

The only logical explanation is that you calculated incorrectly. If I converted correctly, you are getting 17.8 mpg. I can't even make my Si get 22 mpg, if I redline all day long. Your math is incorrect and start calculating the correct way. Also, stop using premium gasoline. It is completely unnecessary, and a waste of money.

 

Bottom line is you are calculating fuel economy by the fuel guage, the wrong way.

Use the lowest octane fuel you can that doesn't cause detonation or knock.

 

its really not that hard people...........


Fill your tank all the way up and reset your trip odomoter.
When your gas gauge gets close to empty, go and refill your tank.
Now, here comes the tricky part......... You take the amount of gallons used (i.e. if you drove x kilometers and used y liters of gas) and divide!!!!!

example (in miles/gallon) I used 9.6 gallons of gas and went 400 miles= 41.666667 miles/gallon

40 liters(10.566 gallons) / 299 kilometers(185.789 miles)=7.45 liter/kilo (17.583 miles/gallon)
If You live in sanfrancisco style streets with grades like where the rice a roni trolly go, that is obviously your problem just as using higher octane fuels that cost more, and carbon up your motor faster .Botom line is this, use 87 octane fuel because that what the engineers built the car to use and drive downhill in neutral and you will get more kilos/liter than you could ever imagine.

"im not aggressive, but i like fast Acceleration" .........what does that mean????

 

Not aggressive = not an aggressive driver. i dont go racing and burn tires on the streets..
but when i step on the gas, i like to take the utmost of the car's acceleration power!

Reg. calculations: I DID calculate it right...
my whole Question was about why did the civic consume so high while its still relatively new?
Thanks anyway,, i will try 2 use lowest octane available..

BTW: SMXcan got some nice points...

 

well the high octane could be your problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tareq75 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not aggressive = not an aggressive driver. i dont go racing and burn tires on the streets..
but when i step on the gas, i like to take the utmost of the car's acceleration power!

Reg. calculations: I DID calculate it right...
my whole Question was about why did the civic consume so high while its still relatively new?
Thanks anyway,, i will try 2 use lowest octane available..

BTW: SMXcan got some nice points...
</TD></TR></TABLE>

So basically you don't like to launch and peel the tires, but like to drive fast once already moving. That is still driving aggressively.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tareq75 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

&gt;&gt;&gt;Not aggressive = not an aggressive driver. i dont go racing and burn tires on the streets..
but when i step on the gas, i like to take the utmost of the car's acceleration power!&lt;&lt;&lt;

Reg. calculations: I DID calculate it right...
my whole Question was about why did the civic consume so high while its still relatively new?
Thanks anyway,, i will try 2 use lowest octane available..

BTW: SMXcan got some nice points...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont want to be mean but this is the dumbest thing ive heard on here all year

Kudos

 

wow.
wheres rico to deliver the epic fail.

 

Epic,

That ***** Legendary

This is the stuff dreams are made off

 

Why do manufacturers give cars higher mpg ratings for Highway than for City?

Well, it has to do with amount of acceleration required to make a car get to the desired speed. Accelerating a car uses much more fuel than a car moving at constant velocity.

On the Highway, once you get to your desired speed, acceleration is minimal.
In the City, after every stop acceleration is requred.

Maybe I should have been more clear. By aggressive driving, I meant, do you accelerate very often? Do you accelerate very high? Does the RPMs go way above 2.5k when you accelerate?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tareq75 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> i dont go racing and burn tires on the streets..
but when i step on the gas, i like to take the utmost of the car's acceleration power!</TD></TR></TABLE>

FYI: Two cars racing is the same as two cars accelerating.

It’s pretty obvious now, why your fluel efficiency is low.

In your case, reduce acceleration as much as possible, lower your octane to 87, and increase your tire psi to 42.

Also, is your LX an automatic or manual transmission? Automatic uses more fuel.

2008fijibluesi has a manual Si, which may explain why his car could not get as low as 22 mpg even if he red-lined all day. However, that's still a little hard to believe, when the Honda.com site states the 2009 Si Coupe EPA Mileage Estimates††/Capacities are 21 mpg City, 29 mpg Highway, and 24 mpg Combined.


Modified by smxcan at 1:09 AM 11/4/2008

 

Yea, incase you didnt know accelerating like a bat out of hell from the light will guzzle up lots of gas.

 

OP you are calculating your fuel economy WRONG.....as a couple other guys already said. You can't gauge it by each individual dot. The more fuel you expend....the faster it begins to burn off.

You were already told the PROPER way to calculate your fuel economy. DO IT!! I don't know how many other people need to come in here and tell you that you're doing it wrong. Maybe I can get my Chemistry professor to fly over there and spell it out for you on a chalkboard. But no promises.

And your aggressive acceleration is what's also eating up your fuel economy. Got some news for you.......if you get the most out of your car's acceleration (which by the way is not what it's built for)............then there's a trade off........FUEL ECONOMY. Same thing goes for any car.

Just because you don't race doesn't mean you're supposed to get good mileage. It's your driving habits (aka....hard acceleration) and your method of calculating your economy.


Modified by RICO_ at 2:49 PM 11/4/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by smxcan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> 2008fijibluesi has a manual Si, which may explain why his car could not get as low as 22 mpg even if he red-lined all day. However, that's still a little hard to believe, when the Honda.com site states the 2009 Si Coupe EPA Mileage Estimates††/Capacities are 21 mpg City, 29 mpg Highway, and 24 mpg Combined.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok I exaggerated a teeny bit. I've never red-lined my car ALL day. Just so you know, the EPA estimates are just that...estimates. If you further examine the build sheet for a car and read the portion on fuel economy they usually have a large spread they use to determine that estimate. This link should help you understand what I mean. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg...shtml.